The charity cycle ride open to all – with Sri Lanka as its beating heart

by Sharmila Meadows

This May, the UK charity Trek4Ceylon opens registration for its 2027 charity bicycle tour of Sri Lanka, buoyed by a successful 2026 tour in February, all in aid of St Luke’s Methodist Mission Hospital at Puttur. The 2026 ride was the second such tour as Trek4Ceylon and brought together an international and local band of around 50 cyclists, alongside support crew, to voyage approximately 500km from Colombo, via Galle, Hambantota and Dambulla to Jaffna.

It is an impressive feat, made more so because many of those involved are neither elite, experienced or even regular cyclists. The tour positions itself to welcome all types of cyclists and intentionally offers three distinct cycling pelotons, grouped by speed and ability, to ensure equal accessibility for casual and elite riders alike. Mark Wilcox from England serves as the tour’s mechanical expert and Group Captain for Peloton Three and believes this inclusivity and unity is the strength of the ride.

“Trek4Ceylon is an adventure for many different types of people. Group One riders are the engine, the serious riders who train to maintain pace. Group Two are regular riders who want to push their personal best distances and learn to ride in a group. Group Three riders are the beating heart… not particularly fit, not on the most expensive bikes but determined to share their time and energy to support a worthwhile cause.”

That cause is the restoration of medical services at St Luke’s Hospital, Jaffna. Founded in 1824, with an operational dispensary since 1901, the hospital had to close its functions in 2007, leaving a considerable infrastructure gap for a community of 100,000 people. In 2024, the then newly established charity Trek4Ceylon signed a multiyear agreement with St Luke’s, with a commitment to restore the hospital’s buildings so that vital medical care, including necessary primary care services, could be provided. The first year of partnership laid essential groundwork, including statutory permissions, to enable construction to commence in this second year. To that end, the procurement process for appointing building contractors is now active.

It is a vision that has motivated cyclists and supporters near and far – including elite cyclists like Germany’s Nadja Wachter or America’s Agnes Safford, who find in Trek4Ceylon a cycling tour offering a professional-level challenge that tests even their considerable limits.  While international engagement and sporting excellence is intrinsic and invaluable to the tour’s offer, at its heart rests a profound connection to Sri Lanka  - and for many participants, the motivation is more poignant and deeply Sri Lankan.

“Cycling is my passion, and it was a dream to cross Sri Lanka by bicycle,” recalls Group Two cyclist, Karuna Poopal, who left Trincomalee in Sri Lanka’s watershed year of 1983 for a new life in Germany, where he still resides. “The experience in Sri Lanka and with Team Trek4Ceylon was amazing. I met a lot of interesting people who became like family.”

Similarly, Mathu Mahendran’s parents left Jaffna in 1985, a few years later settling in Switzerland, where Mathu was born and raised. “I joined the Ride because I wanted to give something back.  Exploring Sri Lanka on a bike — the people, the landscapes, the roads, the energy of the country — was unforgettable. Even when the heat and humidity were intense.  Above all, it gave a deep sense of inner satisfaction. It felt powerful to contribute while pushing my own physical and mental limits. Along the way I met amazing people from around the world. I’m very grateful to have been part of it.”

This rootedness to Sri Lanka is a defining feature of the tour, which purposefully engages local people, both to value their skills and create opportunity – whether as cyclists, medics, mechanics, drivers or support staff. Himsara Ranasinghe, a 24 year old engineering student at ICBT Sri Lanka in Colombo, volunteered as a support marshal after meeting Trek4Ceylon’s co-founder and organiser David Rasiah when repairing David’s land rover.

“It was an amazing experience” shares Himsara, “a pleasure to watch a peloton of riders from completely different corners of the globe moving as one.” Himsara was also grateful for the opportunity the tour gave him as a young Sri Lankan. “It provides a rare, informal space for young locals to interact with international riders. The conversations during water breaks sparked new perspectives on travel and career.  The ride also teaches young people that they can use their hobbies and physical health to solve systemic problems. The aim of Trek4Ceylon is the best example of that.”

It is an example played out at three levels, explains co-founder, David. “Trek4Ceylon works to uplift medical services, but equally to bridge the north-south gap and to promote Sri Lanka via tourism. We do this by investing in hospital care through an island-wide institution like the Methodist Church, by fostering relationships between cyclists from Sri Lanka’s south and north, and also by inviting overseas cyclists to come and invest in Sri Lanka.  That commitment to the whole island is also why a team from Trek4Ceylon attended the recent One Galle charity dinner dance in London, which supports investment and care in the south.”

These synergies lie at the heart of the charity, as it gathers Sri Lankan stories and international stories, sporting milestones and charity fun rides, and collectively weaves a movement where a better future for all Sri Lankans, north and south, is the push behind the pedals. Maybe it’s time to get on your bike.

Trek4Ceylon’s next tour runs from 2-7 March 2027. Registration opens 16 May. Visit www.trek4ceylon.com for details.